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Frank W. Hale Jr., 1927-2011

July 27, 2011

Lifelong crusader for diversity in higher education and civil rights served as vice provost and professor

Frank W. Hale Jr., former vice provost and professor, who dedicated his life to diversity in higher education and civil rights, died July 27 following an extended illness. He was 84.

An advocate for higher education for 54 years as a faculty member, administrator and educational consultant, Hale dedicated 24 years of leadership to Ohio State.

“We have lost one of the true giants of the Ohio State community,” said President E. Gordon Gee. “Dr. Frank Hale was a scholar, teacher, researcher, administrator, a civil rights pioneer. More than that, he was a force to be reckoned with who opened the doors of opportunity to underserved students through sheer force of his intellect and determination.

“Frank Hale richly deserved the honor of having Hale Hall named for him. Indeed, a small piece of this campus carries his name, but every inch bears his imprint.”

As associate dean and chairman of the Fellowship Committee of the Graduate School (1971-78) and vice provost for the Office of Minority Affairs (1978-1988), Hale founded the current Graduate and Professional Schools Visitation Days program implemented to increase the number of minorities seeking advanced degrees. From its inception, the program served as a national model and led to Ohio State’s long-held distinction as the highest producer of minority Ph.D students among four-year colleges and universities.

Through his efforts, nearly $15 million in graduate fellowship awards were awarded to approximately 1,200 minority students, of which 80 percent earned master’s and/or doctoral degrees. His efforts in establishing undergraduate scholarship programs assisted nearly 500 students during his tenure.

Hale, who retired in 1988, returned to the university in 1999 as Distinguished University Representative and Consultant for the Office of the President. He initiated the President and Provost’s Diversity Lecture and Cultural Arts Series which continues to bring eminent scholars and artist to campus. He retired in 2005.

“A long-time activist, Dr. Frank W. Hale Jr., demonstrated courageous educational, religious and scholarly leadership in civil rights struggles,” said Valerie Lee, vice provost for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and chief diversity officer. “His life and legacy will inspire generations to come.”

In recognition of his distinguished career, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees voted him vice provost and professor emeritus, naming the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center in his honor and designated the building as Hale Hall. An endowed scholarship has also been established in his name.

Hale delivered Ohio State’s Summer Commencement address in 1988. He was honored the same year in December by the City of Columbus as 1,200 guests participated in his retirement banquet.

Hale’s lifelong commitment to diversity and civil rights mirrored his devotion to higher education. His activism spanned decades and in October 2010, he was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, adding to the hundreds of awards and citations received over his lifetime.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Hale graduated from Topeka (Kan.) High School.  He attended the University of Nebraska where he was awarded a bachelor’s and master’s degree in communication, political science, and English in 1950, and his doctorate in communications and political science from Ohio State in 1955.  Hale was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of London where he received the “Certificate in English Literature” in 1960.

Prior to establishing his career at Ohio State, Hale was chair of the Department of English at Central State University before leaving for the presidency of Oakwood College in 1966.

Hale is survived by his wife, Mignon Scott-Hale, a retired elementary school teacher.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Culture Center Renovation and Expansion Project. Fund number: 301942.

Business and Finance names new operations VP

July 26, 2011

Kristine Devine, who has more than 22 years providing accounting and auditing services with Deloitte & Touche LLP, was named the Office of Business and Finance’s vice president of operations.

In this position, Devine will have the dual task of overseeing the Shared Services structure and overall financial and procurement operations. She also will be responsible for developing and implementing initiatives that support the university’s strategic advancement while lending her expertise and budgetary analysis to President Gordon Gee, the Board of Trustees and Office of Business and Finance Senior Vice President Geoffrey Chatas so they can make the most effective financial decisions.

“This is an incredibly vital role, and Kris will be the perfect facilitator thanks to her incredible wealth of experience,” Chatas said. “She managed Deloitte & Touche’s Columbus office and was their partner in charge of Audit and Enterprise Risk Services. The work she did for Ohio State when we were her client was impeccable, and I’m extremely pleased she agreed to join our university family.”

Devine will be streamlining Shared Services to improve efficiency, provide even better support to units and eliminate any redundancies. Also, she will be creating metrics and scorecards to evaluate the effectiveness and value of Shared Services.

Devine’s extensive career at Deloitte & Touche involved clients in higher education (including Ohio State University and Miami University), real estate, insurance, the public sector and not-for-profit industries. She also is an expert in compliance and government accounting practices and procedures, currently serving her second term on the federal Advisory Council of Government Auditing Standards.

Red Cross faces urgent need for blood donors

July 18, 2011

The American Red Cross Central Ohio Blood Services still faces a critical blood shortage and continues to appeal for blood donors. Many donors are busy or traveling, school is out of session and donations in May and June dropped to the lowest levels the Red Cross has seen during this timeframe in more than a dozen years. Demand for blood remained steady during this same period, which is why the Red Cross needs people — now more than ever — to roll up a sleeve and give as soon as possible. All types are needed, but especially O negative, which can be used to treat any patient. To schedule an appointment to donate call 800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor cose “buckeyes.”

Ohio State campus blood drives for the remainder of July

Mon. July 18
Independence Hall 10am-4pm

Tues. July 19
College of Dentistry 10am-4pm
College of Pharmacy 10am-4pm

Thurs. July 21
Department of Public Safety 8am-2pm
RPAC 2nd floor, 1pm-7pm

Tues. July 26
Arps Bloodmobile 10am-4pm
Thompson Library 10am-4pm

Wed. July 27
Ohio Union 11am-5pm

Thur. July 28
Campbell Hall 10am-4pm

To schedule an appointment visit www.redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code “buckeyes.”

Enter to win FREE GAS for a year plus one of 8 $50 gas cards from Marathon.  Get a Buy One Get One free entry coupon to the Columbus Zoo, and chance to win four Zoombezi Bay tickets.

Individuals who are at least 17 years old (16 with parental permission in some states), meet height and weight requirements (at least 110 pounds based on height) and are in general good health may be eligible to donate blood. Red Cross donor card or positive ID required. Call or log on for more information.

Building up the American dream

July 13, 2011

Associate VP Jim Miller honors his father, OSU military veterans with project to rehab an on-campus home

By Julia Harris

No one understands better than Jim Miller, associate vice president in the Office of Business and Finance, the truth embedded in the saying “A house is not a home.”

As the son of a career military man, Miller and his family relocated 28 times before he was 18 years old, from overseas bases to temporary stateside housing. During those years, his father was often gone for weeks if not months at a time, and contact between them was sporadic at best.

Continue reading ‘Building up the American dream’

A White House invitation

July 13, 2011

Social Work graduate students’ unique policy discussion format draws national attention

By Adam King

It was the only fair way to decide which one of the four Ohio State College of Social Work students would attend a high-level meeting in Washington, DC: Try to guess the number an impartial fifth person had picked between 1 and 10.

Chances are, Sarah Tarrant will always remember the number 3.

Continue reading ‘A White House invitation’

Streamlining teams get down to business

July 13, 2011

Facilities leaders get together to cut 15 percent on plumbing costs; more on the way

By Jeff McCallister

Sometimes the concept of streamlining — so near and dear to President Gordon Gee’s heart — can seem so broad and complicated, it’s easier simply to let things stand.

But a group of facilities managers led by Mark Evans, associate vice president of Administration and Planning, has set out to break it down into some more manageable parts, and the early results have been staggering.

Continue reading ‘Streamlining teams get down to business’

Ohio biennial budget retains support for higher ed

July 13, 2011

As higher education budgets around the country have taken hit after devastating hit, Ohio’s leaders have continued to make this state’s system an exception to that rule.

While there’s no doubt the state’s colleges and universities had their belts forcibly tightened in the recently passed biennial budget bill, there can be no doubt overall support for higher education remained a priority throughout the process.

“Ohio’s leaders have recognized that the education and research occurring here at The Ohio State University are the catalyst for our state’s long-term growth and leadership in the global economy,” OSU President Gordon Gee said. “This budget reflects Ohio’s commitment to invest in what matters most in today’s entrepreneurial and knowledge marketplace. Further, it assures that Ohio State is positioned to attract and retain the best and brightest students, faculty and staff, who leverage the university as a locus of innovation, learning, discovery and economic development.”

Some of the highlights: Ohio State’s Office of Government Affairs successfully sought changes to modernize Ohio laws governing public construction projects that will result in cost and time savings on capital projects; OSU amended a mandatory public employer health insurance pooling proposal to ensure the university can continue offering current insurance benefits; and a number of problematic proposals were ultimately removed from the final version of the budget, including faculty classroom teaching mandates, three-year degree path requirements and the 2 percent employee-employer retirement pension shift.

Herb Asher, renowned political scientist and one of Gee’s top advisers, said Ohio’s governor and legislature should be commended for what has been a strong yet difficult stand to maintain.

“The state of Ohio, unlike many other states around the nation, treated higher education well,” he said. “Thinking back to the last major budget crisis, in the early 1990s, higher ed really bore the brunt of the cuts and the hardship. This time, the state did its best to protect its system of higher education and seems determined to support its investment in Ohio’s future.”

Some other highlights:

* State Share of Instruction, the state’s direct subsidies to Ohio’s public colleges and universities, took a funding cut of about 15 percent, mainly because the last SSI had been combined with federal stimulus money in the last budget and that stimulus money is no longer there.

* The budget restricts tuition and general fee increases to 3.5 percent per year.

* Construction Reform: The budget contains perhaps the most significant modernization of laws governing Ohio’s public construction requirements of the past several decades, which will result in both cost- and time-savings to Ohio State’s capital projects. The final version of construction reform is a far stronger and more meaningful set of reforms than those that were advanced in then-Gov. Ted Strickland’s 2008 Construction Reform Panel recommendations. The budget also increases from $50,000 to $200,000 the minimum project cost threshold that requires competitive bidding for state projects.

* Prevailing Wage: The budget bill modifies the statutory threshold for determining when the Prevailing Wage laws must be applied to public improvement projects. HB 153 establishes a phase-in schedule for the new threshold amounts of public construction projects: $125,000 in the first year after the effective date, $200,000 for the second year and $250,000 thereafter. For reconstruction projects, the new thresholds are adjusted to $38,000 for the first year, $60,000 for the second year and $75,000 thereafter.

* Charter (Enterprise) Universities: The budget requires the chancellor to develop a plan for designating public institutions of higher education as charter universities.

* Three-year Degree Path:  The budget will require universities to provide guidance on how individuals who wish to complete their degrees within three academic years may do so.

Institutions are permitted to choose which programs are addressed first and requires that by June 30, 2014, 60 percent of the academic programs have statements. Universities are not required to take any actions that would violate accreditation requirements.

* Health Insurance Pooling:  Under the bill, the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS) may design health insurance plans for political subdivisions, school districts and institutions of higher education.  Participation in these plans is permissive and states that a university can only participate in the DAS plan if the board of trustees makes a decision to join the plan. The budget permits DAS to establish best practices that must be included in the plan designs and creates the Public Health Care Advisory Committee to develop and recommend the best practice standards. HB 153 also requires DAS to contract with an independent consultant to analyze costs related to employee health care benefits provided by public entities.

* Tech Equity Transfer: Expands current law to include individuals who contribute “intellectual property” to be able to own or take equity in a start-up entity once a product is ready to be commercialized. This change will help foster entrepreneurial cooperation within the university by allowing more than just the faculty inventor or developer to have equity.

* OSU Medical Center: The Medicaid hospital franchise fee reimbursement formula was altered to help minimize the impact to hospitals with a high amount of Medicaid patients. A problematic provision dealing with a “non-contracting” proposal that would have required a hospital not under contract with a Medicaid managed care organization to receive the Medicaid fee-for-service reimbursement rate as payment in full was eliminated.

Finally, OSUMC was able to negotiate a contract with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to help DRC exceed a budgeted savings of at least $10 million annually.

Astronomers reach for the stars for new cancer therapy

July 13, 2011

By Pam Frost Gorder, Research Communications

Astronomers’ research on celestial bodies may have an impact on the human body.

Ohio State astronomers are working with medical physicists and radiation oncologists to develop a potential new radiation treatment — one that is intended to be tougher on tumors but gentler on healthy tissue.

Continue reading ‘Astronomers reach for the stars for new cancer therapy’

Trickle-down improvement

July 13, 2011

In our culture-shaping sessions and materials, we have emphasized the value of openness and trust in our relationships with colleagues. I’d like to extend the discussion to our interactions with students. In my role as vice president for Student Life, I have the privilege of seeing our students at their very best and worst, and all the points between. Whether I am congratulating them on a high honor, counseling them through a crisis or chatting about campus life, I find that students respond positively to open, honest, authentic communication.

Just as our coworkers appreciate it when we share needed information, assume best intentions and keep an open mind, students also react favorably and mirror the attitude we present to them. A trusting environment leads to constructive conversation, shared responsibility and ultimately to achievement of goals. Of course, there is information that cannot be shared for good reasons (FERPA and HIPAA violations among them), but our first instinct should be to be open. Often, that means closing our mouth and opening our ears.  Listening — really listening — is all that is needed in more cases than you would expect.

This applies to individuals, specific groups and the student body as a whole. The more students feel that we, the faculty and staff, are hearing their concerns and being honest, forthright and considerate with them, the more effectively we can work together. It’s hardly surprising that positivity begets positivity, but openness does not always come naturally or easily, so consider these questions:

• Am I presenting an attitude that invites students to approach me with questions and concerns?
• Do I respond in a timely manner to inquiries?
• Do I listen for understanding, gather the information needed and respond appropriately — whether that is simply “I hear you” or a referral to a resource for assistance?
• Is the information students need from my department kept up to date and easily accessible?
• Do my words and actions indicate that I think positively about our students and expect them to perform to a high standard?

That last point, I think, may be the most important one. When you make it clear that you respect students’ ability to weigh various factors and make good choices, you are rarely disappointed. When you set high expectations, you are likely to get good results. I see this in our students’ enthusiastic support of programs such as Buckeyethon ($222,518 raised for Nationwide Children’s Hospital this year) and BuckIServ (between-quarters trips to do community service), as well as the remarkable academic achievements showcased at the Denman and Hayes forums.

I also see it in less lofty arenas, such as our expectation that students will treat the facilities and furnishings of the new Ohio Union with care.  Despite constant use, very little damage has occurred. It does not hurt that the staff speak respectfully, but firmly to those who appear to be on the verge of careless or harmful actions. Being open and trusting does not mean overlooking or excusing poor student behavior — in the classroom, in our recreation facilities or in the off-campus neighborhoods. It does mean communicating clear expectations, sharing the information needed to make good decisions, responding to questions, being open to feedback and assuming positive intent wherever possible.

Megan Troyer, manager of the Digital Union’s Learning Collaboration Studio

July 13, 2011

What is a SMART Podium Interactive Pen Display?

SMART is a brand name for a line of Interactive White Board products, one of which is a replacement screen for the podium computer in a classroom. Each device has a stylus attached that allows you to interact with the computer. The pen can completely replace the mouse as a means of launching programs and navigating PowerPoint, websites or any other application on the computer.

The Podium also has a series of buttons that allow the user to change the functionality of the stylus from a mouse to a red, black or blue pen or an eraser. In most applications, SMART software will add a “Digital Ink Layer” to the screen. Think of this like a transparency on an overhead projector that allows you to annotate right on top of whatever content is being displayed on the computer screen.

More advanced software comes with the SMART Podium.  SMART has a plug-in for many common applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat that allows the annotations to be embedded directly into the application.

Additionally, SMART Notebook software is a PowerPoint replacement that allows the presenter the use of some sophisticated tools including handwriting recognition or the use of a “Magic Pen” that can spotlight a section of a slide or zoom in on a piece of an image.

What are the benefits to faculty and students?

If a student in class asks a particularly apt question that is not covered in the prepared lecture materials, the presenter can quickly add the topic to that day’s lecture notes. Faculty can benefit by saving the notes they take on their slides each class for iterative improvement of the presentation materials from quarter to quarter. Instructors can solve out problems without need for a chalkboard, whiteboard or overhead projector; take notes on a lively discussion; or draw attention to details on a piece of artwork — all of which can be preserved for future use.

Students don’t suffer from eyestrain reading chalkboards.  Additionally, students can benefit if the instructor saves the notes and provides them to students after class, allowing the students to concentrate on the message of the lecture versus verbatim note taking, and they can participate in more active discussion.

Where are they located and how do I learn more?

There are currently six pool classrooms equipped with SMART Podium devices: CC 311, EA 160, EA 170, IH 100 and HI 131, plus one centrally managed innovative learning space, called the Learning Collaboration Studio in SEL 060. Many other departments including Chemistry and the University Libraries have SMART Podium devices available to their instructors. Training is available on demand or in small groups through the Digital Union, digitalunion@osu.edu or 292-2793.

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